Quote:NEW DELHI: Seeking to gain a bigger foothold in India's growing aviation market and also expand trade with the country, France has said it intends to set up aircraft manufacturing and training facilities in this sub-continent nation.

"We foresee greater co-operation between both countries especially in the aeronautical sector. We are planning to set up aircraft manufacturing and training facilities here," French ambassador to India Dominique Girard said.

His comments, during a function here on Sunday, come months after officials of Airbus Industrie, headquartered in Toulouse, France, said that the aircraft manufacturer plans to outsource as much as 60 per cent of its production and intends to allocate more work to India and China.

The scoop is that for the time being, Airbus is looking to set up an MRO unit in India. Some suggested Nagpur as the place chosen, but I doubt they will install themselves in the same place as where Boeing will.

Also, I don't know if you'd have noticed, but in the month of April, Airbus had come out with a recruitment ad in the TOI Ascent BLR edition for India-specific maintenance engineers and ppl interested in training aspects.

Honestly, manufacturing-wise, I don't see any player apart from HAL who has the industrial capability to make stuff for Airbus, but then we are all aware of their work-culture and "punch-and-lunch" attitude. Having said that, quite a few IT industries have already implicated themselves in R&D projects for Airbus and that share of the pie is gradually increasing.

All I can say is that with the boom in aviation, training and subsequently engineering services are entering Indian shores and though the local press may not make much sense of it now, trust me, there is lots going on behind the scenes !

'To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly is everything.' - Otto Lilienthal

Quoting Windowseater (Reply 1):All I can say is that with the boom in aviation, training and subsequently engineering services are entering Indian shores and though the local press may not make much sense of it now, trust me, there is lots going on behind the scenes !